Card Show-Off: Rookies for a Quarter

Following up the last card show post and the mystery of the Willie Mays goo, today we delve into the modernish stuff. All of it comes from the bargain boxes. Without further ado:

We begin with an assortment of rookies. I love rookies, and these were some nice ones. The Gordon is numbered, the Putz is uncirculated, and Lester is an XRC. Not a bad mix. And they're even better when they each came out of the quarter box. Even better when they were actually 5 for a buck. And then the dealer cut me a deal. I freaking love card shows. Anyway, onward with more from this quarter box.

More great steals in this grouping of rookies from the quarter box. I'd been after a Quintin Berry rookie every since his great season last year. I wouldn't mind seeing him back in the lineup. The Pence is nice, and you have to love Buster being haunted by a red demon cloud. Probably best of all is the Carlos Gomez, which is a blue refractor. Gomez is having a career year, and it's cool to have one of the better rookie cards of the dude who keeps showing up on the highlight reel.

Man, when I was a kid, this was the insert set to get, from '92 Score. I pulled a Musial when I used to rip these. Now I have Mantle and the trio. Now I just need the Yaz to complete the set. According to COMC, there were only 150000 of these made. Holy rare junk wax, Batman!

More goodies for the player collections. That Pudge chrome is sweet.

And a few more. I'm such a sucker for shiny parallels. However, I hate the Moments and Milestones sets, which are completely unwieldy for player collectors. But their damn non-rare numbering sucks me in. There were a bunch more Verlanders in this quarter box, but I only picked up these two. Notice the eBay 1 of 1s. 150/150 and 002/150. Hell, what isn't an eBay 1 of 1!

This oddball Whitaker from the dime box may be my favorite find of all. I'm not sure if this is an iron-on or a shrinky-dink or what. Oh, COMC says it's a "Rub Down." Sexy. I love how much those Italian Topps affiliates tried to jam onto these cards. Busy? No way. Just exploding with sophisticated design.

Overall, a great show. Those bargain boxes always make the trip worth it.